Job stress ‘behind 120,000 American deaths a year’

Job stress can be fatal and contribute to the deaths 120,000 Americans a year. It can also lead to hypertension, cardiovascular disease and decreased mental health, a new study argues. It also costs tens of billions of dollars in healthcare.

On the bright side, the study also found that improving
management practices could save lives.

The Harvard and Stanford Business School working paper published
in the Management Science journal looks at why Americans spend
$180 billion every year on healthcare yet experience average or
subpar health outcomes compared to the rest of the world.

The study combined common job stressors – including layoffs and
unemployment, lack of health insurance, shift work, long working
hours, job insecurity, low organizational justice - with
management choices such as long hours, lack of control, job
insecurity and perceptions of unfairness in the workplace.

Job stress 'making staff unhealthy' http://t.co/hyN7d0OZKA > and
will only get worse if Govt insist on low paid, insecure, poor
quality work

Co-author Professor Joel Goh of Harvard
Business School told Working Knowledge, “These factors affect
health in two ways. They are both inherently stressful on the
body, and also lead to unhealthy behaviors like alcoholism and
overeating.”

Researchers developed a mathematical formula that included these
factors using data from four sub-populations of the US civilian
labor force in 2010 – men, women, the unemployed and employed –
and added data for negative health outcomes. They found that
workplace stress contributes to at least 120,000 deaths a year.

In 49,000 of these deaths, the biggest contributing factor was a
lack of health insurance. Unemployment contributed to 34,000
deaths, and job insecurity and high work demands contributed to
30,000 deaths.

"We have this body of research that shows workplace stress is
very bad for health, and we have this other information that says
our health costs are way above that of other countries," Goh
said. "But traditionally in the US we have not placed a lot
of emphasis on the role of workplace stress in the high cost of
health care."

The study showed when employees are working in downsizing firms
there is a two-fold increase in sick absences. Giving employees
some discretion over their work schedules has profound health
benefits, researchers said, as low job control and high job
demands contribute to poor health.

“Health care programs are no good if your guy is so stressed
that he can’t take advantage of them,” said Goh.